Today we discovered a live video cam capturing images of some baby Bald Eagles near Lake Washington. We were able to watch the two babies as they interacted with their mom in a nest near Lake Washington.
We watched the Eaglets grow impatient waiting for their mom to return, watched them interact with the mother eagle, and saw them practice flapping their wings.
We made bird suet a few weeks ago using different variety of bird seed. Then we did some scientific testing to see what suet the birds in our region preferred. We had a very clear winner.
We’re sharing the recipe here. But if you’d rather not make your own, or if you just want to help a little girl fulfill some of her dreams to study animals in San Diego you can buy some from McKayla in her new store. She is selling Bird Suet to earn money for an educational field trip to the ocean, Sea World and the San Diego zoo.
Here’s How To Make Bird Suet
You will need:
Small plastic zippered bags
Mesh bag or suet basket.
Stove
Pot
Stirring Spoon
Freezer
2 cups peanut butter
2 cups lard (not shortening)
4 cups rolled oats (not quick oats)
4 cups cornmeal
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup raisins
1 cup bird seed
1. Melt the lard and peanut butter in a pot over low heat. Have a grown-up do that part.
2. Stir in the rest of the ingredients.
3. Scoop the mixture into small zippered bags.
3. Place the bags in the freezer so the suet will harden.
Once the suet has hardened:
Remove the suet from one of the bags and place it in the mesh bag or suet basket. We found it easies to cut the bag open.
Hang the bag or suet basket on a tree outdoors. It should be on an open branch where cats can’t easily access it.
Wait, watch, and enjoy the birds that flock to it.
Last Friday was a busy science day at our house. First we learned about how you can identify different the species of bird by looking for markings. Then McKayla and I went on a field trip to see the birds at local bird sanctuary. It is only minutes away from our house, but strangely we hadn’t take her there before.
We took a picture of this species of bird. We didn’t know what kind of bird this was it is so today we set out to find. McKayla looked at our 1008 page book looking for birds with black feathers and yellow beaks, while I tried doing an internet search. McKayla finally found the bird on page 783.
It was a European Starling.
We didn’t think it was the correct bird at first because we didn’t notice that this bird had white tipped feathers at first. The blackness of the birds was the most noticeable to us when we were watching them. A closeup photograph of the birds showed the white tips.
Common Name: European Starling
Family: Sturnidae
Species: Sturnus vulgaris
Length: About 8.5 inches
Wingspan: About 15.5 inches
Plumage: Sexes similar
Migration: Northern bird migrate
Weight: 8 ounces
Song:
I love going downtown. My mom is taking me downtown to the Outdoor Retailer Show today so I can find stuff to tell you about. My mom says that means I am “on assignment”. That’s newspaper talk for finding a story.
I learned a lot of stuff about science yesterday. I learned how to keep chocolate from melting when hiking. I learned how to keep people dry outside when it is raining. And I got to meet two girls from USA Today that were there looking for stuff to write about too. I’ll tell you what I learn later. I can’t right now because I am going downtown again.
Mom’s Notes: The Outdoor Retailer Show is a convention where stores who sale outdoor related products come to purchase products from manufacturers. I thought this would be a great time for McKayla to learn the science behind outdoor products but was pleasantly surprised about how much science she would actually be exposed too.
We spent quite a bit of time talking to the manufacturers reps. A few of them obviously didn’t know how to talk to a six year old, but most of them did very well at explaining things in terms McKayla could understand.
I’d especially like to thank the people at the 3M Corporate booth they spent a lot of quality time with McKayla explaining the science behind their products, and even fed her juice and muffins. They even gave her a bottle ScotchGard that she can use to experiment with as well. She is going to see if she can make some of her clothing more “hydrophobic.” She walked away from your booth saying, several times, “that was cool,” and I really liked that booth. She learned enough material to have plenty to talk about for a couple of weeks.
This is my first article for our new science blog, and my first ever blog posting. I talked and mom typed. I am six years old.
This is what I learned about Polar Bears today. I am learning about the word extinct and what it means.
Polar bears eat meat. In 40 years the ice cube is going to melt and the polar bears home is going to collapse. The snow is getting really, really, really squishy. The polars bears are going to sink into the water and they might die. But polar bears are really, really, really, really good swimmers. They eat fish.
We went on a field trip in the Rocky Mountains.
All bird feet is different from each other.
This is my first article for our new science blog, and my first ever blog posting. I talked and mom typed. I am six years old.
